India sails into top spot as cruise feeder market for Singapore

In 2017, India led visitor arrivals as Singapore’s number-one source market for cruises with 127,000 cruise passengers – a 25 per cent increase compared to 2016.

This contributed to a total Indian inbound traffic of nearly 1.3 million for the year, breaking previous records to become Singapore’s third-highest ranking source market for visitor arrivals, according to figures from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

For Dream Cruises, the volume of Indian passengers on its cruise ships has seen “a steady growth with a healthy year-on-year increase throughout the years,” said Michael Goh, senior vice president – international sales, Genting Cruise Lines.

“India as a source market remains an important revenue contributor for Genting Cruise Lines, and we are optimistic of this steady growth with more Indian tourists opting for a cruise vacation from Singapore.”

Dream Cruises is currently deploying the Genting Dream to its homeport in Singapore, doubling the passenger capacity to 3,400, compared to previous Dream Cruises ships that homeported in Singapore.

Meanwhile, growth in the India market has doubled from 2016 to 2017 for Royal Caribbean, “driven by the increase in the summer sailings in Singapore that coincide with India’s peak travel season”, said Sean Treacy, managing director, Asia-Pacific, Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Treacy shared that cruises are especially appealing to Indian families, who “can group together to make cruises a friends-and-family gathering (while enjoying) the city as well”.

Karan Anand – head, relationships, Cox & Kings, noted that fly-cruise holidays are popular among Indian outbound travellers, with Singapore offering an attractive choice.

“The beauty of taking a cruise vacation from Singapore is because it’s a homeport for many cruise liners and travellers have a wide selection of cruise options. This makes it a highly desirable destination for Indian cruise travellers,” Anand said.

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